Is the David Stern fix in in the NBA Finals?

There are two certainties in any big game involving the Miami Heat:1. LeBron James will have every aspect of his game analyzed, unfairly or not, then repeated for 24 consecutive hours — and Skip Bayless and Stephen A. Smith will be heavily involved.2. The NBA conspiracy theorists will be out in full force — and if Joey Crawford is present, the arguments will multiply.Both were in play during Tuesday night's wildly entertaining Game 6 of the Finals.The belief by those who love to scream that the NBA is fixed is that the evil emperor, David Stern, will do anything in his extreme power to make sure there is a Game 7.To no one's surprise, Crawford — whose full name, followed by “fixes games,” results in 1.46 million results in a Google search — was an official for a Game 6 that began with the Heat one loss from elimination.But it wasn't the officials who were partly responsible for the Spurs not being able to hold a 13-point lead in the final 16 minutes of regulation.And it wasn't the officials who helped the Heat rally from five points down with 28 seconds left in regulation to win 103-100 in overtime and force a Game 7.(Though I can understand if any Spurs fans are upset that Chris Bosh wasn't called for a foul on a 3-point attempt by Danny Green that could have tied the game on the final play of overtime.)Check out the play-by-play for the final 28 seconds of regulation:

Manu Ginobili, who has been dreadful for much of the series (an average of 10.5 points on 41.7% shooting), missed one of two free throws.

James missed a 3-pointer, but Mike Miller — yes, Mike Miller — grabbed an offensive rebound, and James hit a 3 to cut San Antonio's lead to two.

Kawhi Leonard missed one of two free throws with 19 seconds left.

James missed another 3, but Bosh grabbed the rebound, allowing Ray Allen to hit the tying trey with 5 seconds remaining in regulation.That's a Spurs collapse, not a Joey Crawford/David Stern production.The fourth quarter and overtime belonged to James, who was 3-for-12 from the field in the first three quarters and 8-for-14 in the final period and extra session.

Consider these facts about James' play in the Finals:

In OT, he assisted on each of the Heat's first two field goals, then made a go-ahead jumper with 1:43 left.

He had 32 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds, giving him a pair of triple-doubles in the series.

He has struggled from the field against a very good San Antonio defense (43.3%), but he's averaging 23.3 points, 10.7 rebounds, 7.5 assists and 2.3 steals for the series.

After being passive for too much of the first three games, in which he averaged 16.7 points on 38.9% shooting, James is averaging 30 points, nine rebounds, 7.7 assists and 3.0 steals in the last three contests. During that span, he's shooting a much more respectable 46.6% from the floor and 36.4% from 3-point range.

James entered Tuesday with an average of 31.5 points in elimination games — the highest in league history. He exceeded said average.

The only big men who played for Miami in Game 6 were Bosh (39 minutes), who spends more time on the perimeter than in the paint, and Chris Andersen (14 minutes). That, of course, puts more of an emphasis on James to rebound and defend the paint.James has now followed his nightmare of a 2011 Finals with an MVP performance in the 2012 championship series against Oklahoma City (averages of 28.6 points, 10.2 rebounds and 7.4 assists) and an excellent final three games against a Spurs team that is seeking its fifth title since 1999.He brought the every-game, every-play scrutiny on himself with the horribly contrived Decision, but even his harshest critics have to admit he's a vastly changed player in big moments the last two seasons.If Miami loses Game 7 on its home court Thursday night, James — who outscored the combination of Bosh and Dwyane Wade 32-24 in Game 6 — will bear all of the blame.If the Heat win, he will have been the catalyst of back-to-back championships, and he'll have claimed consecutive Finals MVP awards.It's the burden he has chosen by fleeing his hometown team in the clumsiest manner possible.It's also one he has handled remarkably well the last two years.

More trouble for Haslam

Three more Pilot Flying J employees pleaded guilty to federal charges Tuesday, and the heat on Browns owner Jimmy Haslam is growing by the day.If you're keeping score while wearing your Bernie Kosar jersey, at least three of the five Flying J employees who have pleaded guilty so far are required to cooperate with the government's investigation of Haslam's family company.You don't need to be an expert on fraud investigations to realize the big fish in this search is Haslam, and the increasing number of guilty pleas would seem to be padding the case against a man who has repeatedly insisted he has done nothing wrong.Team Jimmy continued that campaign by releasing this statement Tuesday:

“We are disappointed in the actions of these employees towards our customers. We assure our customers that our five-step plan to correct any wrongdoing and to make certain these actions do not happen again is ongoing, and that our customers' confidence in the vast majority of our 23,000 team members nationwide remains well-placed.”Team Jimmy is disappointed.Browns fans should be wondering if Haslam will still own their favorite team when this is all said and done.

Lack of Self-Awareness Department

Browns receiver Josh Gordon will miss the first two games of the 2013 season because of an NFL suspension, a ban he blamed on ingesting cough syrup containing codeine that was prescribed for a strep throat.He had a history of drug suspensions in college, and he recently deleted a tweet about drag racing on Interstate 71.At some point, Gordon should probably step away from Twitter, or have a public relations team that must approve any tweet before it's sent.A PR firm likely would have nixed Gordon's tweet Tuesday night, which read, “They love to hate us.. #heatgang”Maybe Gordon, a Houston native, has been a Heat fan dating back to the Alonzo Mourning days.Or maybe he has rooted for Miami since James' arrival three years ago.Regardless, a player in his position — suspended, and trying to convince the Browns' fans and their new regime that he can be trusted to make responsible decisions — probably should have thought about how such a tweet would be perceived.Gordon can root for any team he wants.He can also expect plenty of snarky responses on Twitter any time he professes his love for the Heat.Two amusing examples from Tuesday night:

From the popular @NOTSCCleveland, a “SportsCenter” Cleveland parody account on Twitter: “@JOSH_GORDONXII: They love to hate us.. #heatgang” --> They'd hate a little less if you'd stop getting suspended. #brownsgang”On second thought, maybe Gordon should keep tweeting about the Heat.You can follow me on Twitter for sports information, analysis and more examples of fans finding humor in athletes' mostly meaningless tweets.

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